Identity Crisis
by Throatwarbler Mangrove
Summary: Two tauren killing humans in the Barrens stumble on an unusual moral dilemma... This week: Everything seems to be going wrong for Lieutenant Dannel after his regiment is separated from the rest of the Alliance's army.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Sara stood up slowly, her back aching with the strain of hunching over the ground for long hours. She sighed, and wiped the sweat off her face with a ragged and dirt-stained sleeve. Staring up at the harsh sun, she wondered what had possessed her husband to bring her to this awful place.

"Doing our part to help the Alliance, pah!" she muttered under her breath as she headed back towards the make-shift hut that served as their home. "What about your wife? What about your child?"

Reminded, she hurried inside, where Laura was still sleeping as peacefully as when Sara had left to try and coax their seeds to take root in the dusty ground.

"There you are angel," she said soothingly when the babe started to mumble at the noise. "There you are." Sara sighed again. She seemed to be doing a lot of sighing these days. "You always were a good baby," she whispered, rocking the rough, hand-carved cradle gently, "Not like your father."

Sara thought back to when she had first meet Bran. He had seemed so gallant and dashing then, as if he were a lord, not the second son of a wealthy farmer. "He was always so kind," Sara thought out loud, "How was I to know that he'd force me to live in this wasteland?" And wasteland was certainly a fitting word for The Barrens. Even its name sounded, well, barren. There were hardly any trees, and the ones that did manage to survive the constant drought, searing heat, and voracious animals were small and scraggly. They had been here for two months, and it hadn't rained once! Not once! It wasn't natural.

She tried to envision Elwyn Forest, the home she had left behind. The cool breezes, the bustling markets, the plentiful food. It was less than a year ago, but that happy time already seemed like a dream.

It had all begun with Lord Samuel looking for "Brave families eager to do their part in defeating the enemies of humanity and the Alliance!" and once Bran had his mind set, there was no changing course. No matter how much she begged and pleaded, no matter how much she cried and how much she threatened, nothing she said or did changed his mind. They were to be part of the great movement to settle The Barrens, and, as her Bran had said, she would just have to accept it. And here she was, in a land were nothing seemed to grow and those dreadful bull-monster savages, not to mention orcs, were no more than a stone's throw away.

"I should have left him," she murmured to the sleeping child, "I should have left him, for both our sakes. Ah well."

Bran had gone out to try and kill some of the queer, flightless birds that stalked the desert. They need to supplement the supplies they had brought from Northwatch Hold, as their attempts at growing grain had failed miserably. _Come to think of it_, Sara thought, _he has been gone for a whil_e. She shivered, though the room was quite warm.

"He had better be back before nightfall," she told Laura. "One of these days I'll…" A muffled scream broke her off in mid sentence. Fearing the worst, she quickly picked up her child and ran outside.

Suddenly something knocked her over. She looked up so see her husband staggering around as if he had drunk too much wine, his face slack with terror. "Bran?" she asked, shocked. He moaned, and a gush of blood poured out of his mouth. Sara's eyes widened in horror as she saw the arrow sticking out of his back. Bran seemed to fall in slow motion, and suddenly Sara realized that she was screaming. Laura started to cry as a tall, dark figure stepped out from behind the hut. The last thing Sara ever saw was the hulking form of a Tauren warrior, raising his axe to strike.

* * *

By the time Kwahu caught up to his older brother, the warrior was wiping blood off of his battleaxe and the human they had been chasing was no more than a headless pile of carrion. The young tauren shuddered, and tried to avoid looking at the corpse without seeming to. It was Kwahu's first time defending his people's lands, and he wanted to make a good impression on Mahal.

Kwahu had only finished learning the way of the hunter under the guidance of Melor Stonehoof two full-moons ago, and he had been shocked when his brother had asked him help him get rid of some humans encroaching on Horde territory. Mahal was a great warrior of the New Horde, and had been to The Barrens and Orgrimmar many times, and even to the Eastern Kingdoms, but Kwahu had never ventured farther east than Thunder Bluff. He had never even seen a human, much less fought one.

Strangely, Kwahu had been a bit disappointed when he had seen his first man. The creature seemed so tiny and frail. The top of his head would barely reach the shoulder of even the smallest, oldest tauren. He hadn't been eating to well lately, either, from the look of him. It puzzled Kwahu that something so small could be so troublesome. Nonetheless, he had been the one who had shot the fleeing human; right between the shoulders, and from quite a distance, too. But he felt his pride at the shot start to slip away at the sight of the headless corpse.

In his desperate attempt to look at anything but the blood still gushing out of the severed neck, Kwahu realized that there was second corpse, a female. Mahal noticed the direction of his gaze and gave a snort of laughter.

"The fool led us straight to his mate," he said. "Typical human."

Kwahu turned away quickly, and spotted Kanti, his wolf, stalking silently over the hill. She was by far the biggest wolf anyone in Mulgore had ever seen; though she was barely more than a pup, her pointed ears already reached nearly to his waist. When she spotted them, she gave a short bark. Kwahu called her over, and then tried to control his growing nausea as she began to investigate the bodies.

"Stop that," he whispered hurriedly.

"That was an impressive shot," Mahal said, unfazed, "He was almost dead from the arrow by the time I caught him. Just a little higher and…are you well?"

"Very," gasped Kwahu.

"Don't worry, Honiahaka, war isn't for everyone."

The use of his childhood nickname, Little Wolf, infuriated Kwahu. Here he was, with the chance to finally prove himself to Mahal, and he could barely stand to look at two dead humans. He handled animal corpses nearly every day! Why, this was no different, really. But it _was_ different, and Kwahu knew it. He couldn't get the look of terror on the man's face out of his mind, or his bubbling scream when Kwahu's arrow pierced his back. He wished he could explain it to his brother, but he knew that the big warrior would only grin.

"Don't call me that!" he snorted instead, "Kanti, _come here_!"

Mahal just shrugged, and proceed to clean the blood from his axe using a fistful of dry grass. Kanti, however, ignored her master and pushed over the female corpse with her nose. Kwahu grunted in shock; the body seemed to move on its own. A tiny face peeped out of a bundle of filthy blankets and began to cry piteously.

"A child," grunted Mahal, as he picked up the bawling infant.

"What are you doing?" cried Kwahu as his brother raised his axe.

"Better a quick death than starvation," replied Mahal, "You should know that."

"But it's just a baby! Tauren don't kill children." Kwahu thought back to Kotori Whisperwind, the tauren whose husband and three children were slaughtered by Kolkar Raiders. "That's centaur work!"

The child screamed and Mahal grunted impatiently. "What are you suggesting?"

Kwahu didn't know what to do. His brother was right; the babe would starve long before it was discovered by any of its own kind, if the raptors didn't get to it first. Returning it to another human settlement was obviously not a wise idea, but he could not simply stand by and let it be slaughtered. _It should be killed, now, _he tried to convince himself, _after all, it will only grow up to be one more human that the Horde has to fight._ Then he remembered the child's father's scream, and he knew what he had to do.

"Give it here," he told Mahal. The warrior grudgingly handed it to him, as one might pass a plainstrider carcass. Kwahu sniffed it delicately. "It's a girl." He sniffed again. "I think."

"Why does it matter?" asked a bemused Mahal.

"I need to know what to name it."

"You can't be serious!" gasped his brother, "Cairne Bloodhoof will never stand for it."

"I'll just have to ask him, won't I," replied Kwahu. Mahal shook his head slowly.

"Even if you do get his approval, the rest of the village will never accept her. You'll both be outcasts for the rest of your lives!"

Kwahu realized his brother was right. Several of the elder tauren still had battle scars from the second war, and would certainly not take kindly to a human being raised nearby. As for the younger generation, they had grown up on tales of the savagery and brutality of the Alliance races, and many dreamed of one day becoming great warriors and killing humans by the dozens.

"Your right, Mahal," Kwahu sighed, "but that still doesn't mean I'm going to let you kill her. We'll just have to live outside the camp. Kanti and I should be able to provide for her, and…"

"This is ridiculous!" Mahal growled. "Just don't come running to me when they tell you that you can't keep her!" He glanced at his brother's stricken faced and instantly regretted his words. "Come on, Honiahaka, we can't know until we ask. Let's get back to Taurahe, and we can head to Thunder Bluff tomorrow."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter one! I'm sorry that this took so long. I suppose this is the part where I say I have a life, but unfortunatly the delay was due more to writers block, laziness, and an over abundence of Farscape DVDs than anything else. So please bring joy to my pathetic existance and _review!_

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Warcraft or anything remotly connected to it. So don't sue me. Also, all of the characters in this story are based on real people. They just happen to live in my head.

**Chapter Two**

Kwahu gulped nervously as the elevator connecting the plains of Mulgore to the tauren capital of Thunder Bluff rose slowly into the air. He wished Kanti was with him, but the wolf hated cities even more than he did, and no amount of coaxing and bits of strider meat could get her onto the elevator. At least he had convinced Mahal to accompany him; his brother had actually spoken to Cairne on several occasions, and Kwahu knew he was going to need all the help he could get.

Last night had been a disaster. The pair had planned on sleeping in Camp Taurahe, but as they got closer Mahal had realized that walking into the inn carrying a human child was not the best idea. Instead they spent a very cold, uncomfortable night sleeping on the ground. Or at least attempting to sleep, as the infant, not having eaten in nearly a day, had proceeded to scream her lungs out. Fortunately she had quieted down after Kwahu ran to the village to buy milk, but unfortunately said milk soon reappeared in the form of a very soiled blanket. The disgruntled hunter spent half the morning trying to scrub the smell out of his leather jerkin, but judging from the wrinkled noses of the shopkeepers they passed, he hadn't entirely succeeded.

At least now the girl was sleeping peacefully in his arms, hidden in a blanket. Kwahu couldn't help envying her a little. Even though he and Mahal were being given no more than cursory glances by the masses of tauren, he felt like everyone was watching him, and kept half excepting someone to yell for the Bluff Watchers and rip the girl out of his arms. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he hurried to catch up to his brother. He just hoped they didn't run into anyone they knew…

* * *

Aiyanna sighed, then bowed to Mak and trotted out the door of his shop. Being an apprentice leatherworker was turning out to be twice as hard and three times a tedious as training to be a shaman. This was the third time that day she had been sent to buy supplies, this time salt from the cook. She allowed herself to dream for a minute about what life would be like once she could open her own store, but was startled out of her reverie by a pair of familiar faces.

"Kwahu, Mahal!" she yelled, fighting her way up the crowded ramp. She couldn't help but notice the fact that Kwahu jumped nearly a foot in the air when she said his name. She had always considered him a bit, well, confused, but this was unusual even for him.

"Hello, Aiyanna," Mahal replied, looking a bit surprised as well, "I wasn't expecting to see you here. I thought you were in Bloodhoof Village, training to be a shaman."

"I was, but, um, it didn't work out," she replied, then coughed embarrassedly. "Let's just say that Narm and I didn't really get along. You have no idea how awkward it is to be trained by your own mother!" Her face brightened suddenly. "Now I'm planning on opening a leather goods store. I'm really quite good at it, when that old slowhoof Mak actually lets me do anything. He has me running errands for him day and night!"

Mahal nodded distractedly. "Oh, that's too bad," he said. Aiyanna suddenly realized that he wasn't paying any attention to her at all, and that Kwahu's ears had been twitching frantically for half a minute.

"Are you feeling well?" she asked Kwahu. He looked as though he was about to faint from terror.

"Um, yes, uh, not really," he stammered, "I just don't, um, like crowds, uh, is all."

Aiyanna managed to keep her eyes from rolling, but only just. Sometimes Kwahu acted crazier than a yearling plainstrider in its first rainstorm. If he hadn't been related to Mahal, no one would ever talk to him. Reminded, she was about to ask the warrior what he was doing back from Sun Rock Retreat, when she noticed the bundle Kwahu was clutching start to move of its own accord.

"Kwahu, what have you got there?" she asked curiously, "a prairie dog?"

She grinned as his eyes widened in shock. He tried to say something but only succeeded in sputtering on her.

"Aiya, it's just," Mahal began frantically, but she had already snatched the bundle from his brother's arms and started to unwrap the blanket.

"What on…," she began at the sight of the baby's bald head, then she realized what it was and dropped the now very awake and very upset human and shrieked.

Many a member of the New Horde, having only heard the fairly soft voice of a calm tauren, would have been surprised at the volume of the shriek. It is, however, important to remember that tauren are quite large, and also possess lungs that are proportional to their size. Aiyanna's lungs, at any rate, produced such a loud, high-pitched shriek that it completely drowned out the human infant's cries, the buzz of the crowd's numerous conversations, and the rhythmic pounding of Karn's Smithy. It also caused Kah Mistrunner, a venerable fisherman, to lose the last of his hearing. Cougars in the plains below cowered in terror, while the prairie wolves howled in appreciation. All in all, it was a formidable bit of noise.

Then it stopped. There was a moment of absolute silence before the whole city went mad. Kwahu managed to scoop up the bawling infant in the confusion. Shortly afterwards he, Mahal, and Aiyanna found themselves being escorted to High Chieftain by a company of very angry and slightly deaf Bluff Watchers, who had given up trying to pry the human away from him after several failed attempts and Mahal's loud demands to be taken to Cairne Bloodhoof.

As can be imagined, the High Chieftain of the tauren was not at all pleased, having been disturbed in the middle of an important meeting with his generals.

"What in my ancestor's name is going on?" he rumbled angrily at the Bluff Watchers, "and what is that smell?"

"These three brought a human into the city, sir" one of the Bluff Watchers replied, ignoring Aiyanna's indignant squawk. "I would have taken them to the caves, but the big one demanded to see you."

Cairne's eyes widened, and he was rendered momentarily speechless. "Please tell me that you've taken care of the human already," he managed.

"Well, we would have, but we can't seem to get it away from that one," the embarrassed guard replied, pointing at Kwahu, who was now shaking like a leaf and clutching the human like she was the last rope on a falling bridge.

Cairne, noticing immediately that the human was far too small to be a spy, assassin or any number of unsavory things, let out a long, slow sigh of relief.

"You are dismissed," he grunted, then rounded on the on the three younger tauren before the Watchers had finished their salutes. "What on Azeroth were you thinking, bringing a human child here? Where did you even get one? Mahal Hawkscry, you are the last tauren I'd expect such foolishness from. Now, give me one good reason why I shouldn't charge the lot of you with treason and throw you off Elder Rise!"

"To be fair, sir, Kwahu and I are the ones responsible for brining the human here. Aiya was just an innocent bystander," Mahal replied calmly.

Cairne glanced at Aiyanna, who now looked nearly as frightened as Kwahu, and nodded. "Aiyanna Skychaser, isn't it? Narm Skychaser's daughter?" She managed an affirmative squeak. "If that was indeed the case, you will be free to go. But rest assured that your mother will be hearing of this!" Aiyanna somehow managed to look even sicker.

Cairne glared at the brothers once more. "Now, explain yourselves!"

Mahal sighed, and seeing that his brother was in no state to talk, began to relate the events of the previous day. At the end of his story, a thoroughly amazed High Chieftain looked shrewdly at Kwahu, who had spent the time staring off into space and imagining one of Cairne's honor guard chopping the girl into pieces.

"So, you plan on raising this human yourself, boy," he asked. "I don't recall seeing you before. Have you completed your Rites of the Earthmother yet?"

Kwahu gave a start, gulped nervously, and replied, "N-n-no sir. I'm in the middle of m-m-my Rite of Wisdom. And y-yes, I plan on raising her myself."

Cairne was silent for moment. "I can not deny that having a human loyal to the Horde would be useful," he thought aloud, "but they have always been our sworn enemies!"

Mahal shook his head. He was fairly certain he knew what was going to happen next, and he didn't think his brother was going to take it very well. The same thought had apparently occurred to Kwahu, because he momentarily forgot his nervousness.

"You can't kill her!" he yelled, clutching the girl frantically. "She's just a child! She hasn't done anything." The impromptu crowd who had gathered to try and get a glimpse of the human gasped at his lack of respect.

Cairne snorted. "You are right, of course. We tauren have always prided ourselves on being honorable, and killing children, no matter what their race is certainly not that."

Kwahu gasped in disbelief. "Then your not…" he started, but Cairne cut him off impatiently.

"No, I'm not," he replied, "and you had better not make me regret it." Kwahu nearly fainted from relief, and Mahal grinned at him encouragingly. "I suppose you've named it already?" Cairne continued.

"It's a girl, sir," Kwahu replied, "I thought I'd call her Khorikuwanyauma, butterfly spreading beautiful wings."

Mahal stifled a snort of laughter, and Cairne's eyes widened in surprise. Then the High Chieftain raised his voice so the crowd around them could hear. "From this day forward, the human… Khorikuwanyauma shall be considered the daughter of Kwahu Hawkscry, and any member of the New Horde who harms her shall be punished as if she were a tauren."

Mahal couldn't help but notice that there was quite a bit of angry muttering following the announcement, and shook his head sadly. Cairne ignored it, and pulled Kwahu aside.

"When she comes of age, I expect you to send her to Orgrimmar for training," he told the elated tauren. "She could be an invaluable spy, especially if open war breaks out again."

Kwahu nodded. "Thank you again sir," he replied, "I won't let you down."

"I'm sure you'll do fine," Cairne said. "Oh, and a word to the wise. I suggest you find something shorter to call her than Khorikuwanyauma."

Kwahu grinned. "I think I'll call her Khori."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Lieutenant Dannel was having a bad day.

When he had gotten off of the boat in Ratchet yesterday he had fully expected Commander Gahlen's three hundred or so soldiers to crush the Crossroad's defenses. For all he knew, they might have already. But the fact of the matter was that he and the fifty men and women under his command were hopelessly, irretrievably lost.

A band of orc raiders had attacked in the night, and in the confusion his regiment had become separated from the main company. Neither he nor any of his men had ever been to Kalimdor before, but he was fairly certain that they were still in the Barrens and therefore in enemy territory. If he ever even found the man, his superior officer was going to be extremely unhappy.

"Lieutenant, sir?" said a quavering voice. "Sir, Sergeant Achill has found something he wants you to see." Dannel looked down into the eyes of a pimple-faced boy who couldn't be a day over fifteen. He sighed in resignation. With his luck, it was probably more bad news. "Tell him I'm on my way."

* * *

"There you are," said Achill. Dannel glared at him until he added a belated "sir". Whatever respect his men might once felt for him had vanished after last night's fiasco. 

The sergeant gestured to the young women standing beside him. Dannel's eyes narrowed. He knew every one of the men and women under his command, and she was a stranger.

"The scouts found her about half a mile to the east," Achill explained. "She demanded to be taken to the man in charge."

The women, well, girl really, ran her fingers through her short, spiky black hair before speaking.

"I have been sent to find you and escort your company back to the commander," she said hesitantly. She had a strong accent that sounded vaguely familiar, but Dannel couldn't place it. "You should know that he is not at all pleased with you, Lieutenant."

"I can't imagine why," Achill muttered under his breath. Dannel ignored him. He was too relived to care. Whatever punishment they decided to give him, it had to be better than starving to death in this wasteland, or being eaten by trolls.

"Where is the commander currently?" he asked the girl.

"To the east of here," she replied after thinking for a moment. Dannel was getting the impression that she wasn't terribly bright. "He wants to regroup before continuing with the attack."

Dannel nodded to himself. He turned to Achill. "Get everyone ready to move. Let them know that we've found the rest of the army." The sergeant nodded and left without bothering to salute. Dannel sighed. Maybe he could redeem himself during the battle.

He turned back to the girl who was still staring up at him silently. She must have been getting a crick in her neck, even though Dannel was only of average height.

"What's your name, anyway?" he asked. She blinked in surprise.

"Private Khori," she said.

* * *

"How much further?" Dannel asked. They had been marching for most of the day in full armor, and his men were close to exhustion. Not only that, but the light was fading. It would be dark in less than an hour. 

"We're almost there," Khori replied.

Her voice tugged at his memory.

"Where are you from?" he asked. "I can't quite place your accent."

The girl looked frightened, of all things. "I grew up in Gadgetzan," she said, after hesitating a moment.

Dannel nodded, but though he'd never met anyone from Tanaris before, and so didn't know what they sounded like, something told him she was lying. It wasn't really any of his business anyway, he supposed.

Suddenly he spotted what he assumed was their destination. Ahead of them was an oasis; a small pool surrounded by a narrow band of lush vegetation, it stood out in startlingly green in contrast to the gray of most of the Barrens.

"The rest of the troops are camped there," said Khori, confirming his guess. "We'd better hurry. The commander is not known for his patience."

Dannel couldn't disagree with her there, so he and his men hurried under the trees. The transition from desert to jungle was disconcertingly sudden. He didn't see anything resembling the rest of the army, but then the undergrowth was so thick he couldn't see much of anything at all.

"Where are they?" he asked. "I can't see a thing."

"Farther in," she called back to him, disappearing behind a tree. "Just follow me."

"Khori?" he yelled, signaling for the troops behind him to stop. "Khori?"

He remembered where he'd heard her accent before just as the first arrows began to fall.

It sounded exactly like that of an orc diplomat he had once guarded in Stormwind.

"Traitor!" He screamed in fury. "To arms! We're under attack!"

All around him his men were falling to the arrows and swords of countless orcs, tauren, and trolls, but he ignored them, racing to the spot he'd last seen the traitor. He was going to kill her if it was the last thing he did.

Suddenly he spotted her on top of a small hill, firing arrow after arrow into the panicking ranks of his men. With a wordless snarl of fury he tackled her, both her arm and her bow snapping under the weight of his plate armor. She tried desperately to reach the dagger at her belt, while Dannel pressed down on her throat.

"Time to die, traitor," he whispered in her ear as she beat futilely against him with her one good arm.

A bellow behind him caused him to jump up and draw his sword, but the huge Tauren ignored it and grabbed him in a crushing embrace. Dannel screamed as him spine snapped like a twig. The last thing he saw was the girl grinning at him.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry I took so long to update, school's been a bit crazy and I've been suffering from some major writers block. I rewrote this chapter about five times and I'm still not entirly happy with it. The next chapter will be longer (and sooner), I promise! 


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